six9's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia
bethmalena's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This book constantly challenged my expectations, especially around the theme of magic. I loved how queer it was, and that it honoured the different ways people heal from [religious] trauma. I felt uncomfortable with the level of detail around some of that trauma, particularly the sexual trauma - it felt like torture porn in places, and distracted from the overall message. Honestly I could have used more dialogue and less sex in general. But I think it’s still a book that will stick with me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Gun violence, and Physical abuse
alsoapples's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking
Moderate: Gaslighting, Incest, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship
cfell's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
spacebetweenpages's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Rape, and Sexual assault
meredith_peruzzi's review against another edition
fast-paced
5.0
K.M. Szpara knocks it out of the park again (so to speak). This book feels entirely different from Docile, it's less power exchange and more power tsunami. Although religion and spirituality are central to the narrative, it doesn't feel particularly "woo" - it feels more like fantasy novel magic than pagan magic. (That may just be me, I'm not very woo myself.) To my surprise, it's a novel of hope - for the first two-thirds I was expecting one outcome, and then that focus was abandoned in favor of stubborn hope in the face of adversity.
The book has trigger warnings for SM, sex, abuse, and rape - it is worth noting that all of these are depicted in a predominantly negative light. I don't think Szpara is saying BDSM is a bad thing - nor did he with Docile, both felt like he has a solid grasp of healthy consent and power exchange - but it should be noted that the SM is equated with abuse and rape in this book, and only in some scenes is the sex depicted positively.
If you enjoyed Docile, do pick this up. It's a very different book but Szpara is a phenomenal writer and this was an excellent read.
The book has trigger warnings for SM, sex, abuse, and rape - it is worth noting that all of these are depicted in a predominantly negative light. I don't think Szpara is saying BDSM is a bad thing - nor did he with Docile, both felt like he has a solid grasp of healthy consent and power exchange - but it should be noted that the SM is equated with abuse and rape in this book, and only in some scenes is the sex depicted positively.
If you enjoyed Docile, do pick this up. It's a very different book but Szpara is a phenomenal writer and this was an excellent read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Sexual content
thoughtsfromtheafro's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Rape
pdestrienne's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I was kind of afraid I wouldn't be in the right frame of mind to read this, based on its trigger warnings, that it would be too heavy. And, while it deals with heavy things, it is written with lightness and healing. The narrative moves fast with a propulsive mix of plot and character development moving in tandem. Set in an alternate America where a cult has bought up a park and former zoo in the middle of Baltimore, it spends only one chapter in that insular place before exploding the cult member's lives and having their sanctuary raided by the FBI. So as readers we don't ever get an objective view of the Fellowship of the Anointed - we focus on 5 of its members, 2 most of the time, with the leader shown in flashbacks, and we see the daily life through the perspectives of the members, which are unreliable as far as our reality goes, especially for Lark, who believes wholly in the destiny and purpose of the Anointed. These are children raised apart from their biological parents, partnered in order to produce magic through pain and care, so they can go out into the world to fight monsters and FOEs at age 25. These missions seem doomed to fail in many ways, but especially because the first one to reach 25 doesn't believe anymore. Once the cult is raided, the story becomes a chase and a quest, following Lark as he forms a tentative alliance with two outsiders and tries to use his magic to find the monster he must defeat while evading the FBI. Along the way he wrestles with what he's been taught, with the loneliness he feels now that he's in the world and betrayed by his partner, and with the crush he's developing on Calvin, one of the outsiders helping him. It's really a lovely story about defining friendship, love, and family for yourself, for taking what served you from a former life and divorcing it from abuse and hurt, and finding and healing yourself. Also some hot sex scenes, uncomfortably mixed in with memories of nonconsensual abuse from the elders in the cult - I definitely see the truth in the criticisms that the rape was voyeuristic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
surefinewhatever_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Magic (or maybe not?), cults, fandom culture, queer folks who get to exist and go on quests, this book hit so many marks for me. The themes of friendship and support and trust were really compelling. Though the darker parts of this book were incredibly hard for me to stomach (so please refer to the Trigger Warnings). I also felt that the author didn’t even need to include Deryn’s perspective to the split narrative. It wasn’t as present or fleshed out as the others, nor did it have much to offer to the story or plot. Overall, Deryn felt further neglected (which whether that irony because of Deryn’s story was intentional or not, tough to say). I think the text would have been stronger had that been scrapped. The rest of the then/now split worked for me, and it made sense to see Lark, Kane, & Calvin on this journey. This is a really heavy read about navigating trauma, life outside of a cult, and the possibility of magic. Moving, but tough tough tough.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence
arithegnome's review
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence